Deina part 1

Sometimes in life, you suffer. there is no reason, no solution and seemingly no end.

I was never really an outdoor girl. Sports and camping? Never really my type of thing. So, I think you can guess what my reaction was when my mom signed me up for readers camp… thanks mom… I have never wanted to run away from home so much in my life. I mean I get it, I like books…correction, I love books, but the words ‘readers’ and ‘camp’ should never go together… EVER. But I didn’t have any choice, fees were paid and I’m not going to pay $500 just to skip 3 days’ worth of exercise and outdoors. I might as well just bite my lip and push through. I even thought it might be fun… naïve little idiot.

So, the day came, we arrived at this crappy campsite. Looking around at all the worn-down cabins and insect ridden beds made me want to puke. I’m not going to spend 5 minutes in this place let alone three days. I took a deep breath and thought to myself… “I’m definitely going to die here.”

Looking around at everyone, I realized something, “readers camp” is just a fancy way of saying “nerd getaway”. Everyone around me looks like they just finished a quantum physics exam or something.  “this is going to be rough” I thought to myself.

So, we settled down. I was sharing a cabin with the girls, no surprise there. I took the opportunity to get to know the other girls while I was unpacking my stuff. Across the room I spotted Emily, how did I know her name? Well, every single one of her belongings had her name on it, so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. I walked over and greeted her, “Hi there, nice to meet you, my name is Ste…”. That was all I could say before she cut me off. “Please don’t take my things, just leave them on my bed and move along, if you’re confused as to who something belongs to, just look at the name tag, thanks.” I stared at her for a moment awkwardly, “Don’t worry I’m not going t…”  this time she didn’t cut me off, but she gave me a glare that felt like she was staring into my soul. I’m not a people person but even I know when someone doesn’t want to talk. Moving on, I guess. Everyone else was fine. It was a reader’s camp so no surprise everyone there were really into books, like, REALLY into them. There was one guy who packed a whole suitcase filled with books. Damn, we’re only here for three days, how much can you read in three days? Apparently, a lot because he managed to go through half of his “supply”. Don’t ask me how. The camp itself, is a bore fest, we just sat around an unlit campfire, reading for majority of the day. Not that I’m complaining, no physical activities? Great! But I’d much rather be reading in the comfort of my own home. At least Brandon is suffering as I can tell that he’s regretting that he ever signed up for this camp. He’s not much of a reader and you can clearly tell that he’s going to pass out from boredom anytime.

That pretty much summed up day one. When the sun set, everyone kept their books and headed back into their cabins to sleep. That was when I heard something strange. It sounded like an animal, a deep and constant moan. It sounded like something was in a lot of pain. I guess you can say that, curiosity got the better of me. Digging through my backpack, I took out my flashlight and a swiss army knife that my mom gave me and i sneaked out of the cabin. I started making my way into the forest, trying to look for the source of that weird bellowing. The forest was dark, and if it wasn’t for my flashlight, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to see my hands in front of my face. Not only was it dark, it was dense too. Not the best combo…

For a full hour, I hiked around in the dark trying to follow that weird cry, but had no luck. The crying had stopped, so there was no way to find the source of the cries. Hence, I decided to head back. That was when I was hit with the pungent scent of rotting flesh. It was horrible, the putrid stench made me want to puke. Looking around, I found the source of that horrific stench. A deer carcass, strewn across the mossy ground. My first thoughts? What the f**k happened to this animal? The creature was a rotting mess of flesh, there were large maggot ridden holes on its sides, holes so big that I could see what’s left of the internal organs in its body. Its legs were worn down to the bone, its left hind leg was missing its hoof. The neck had a huge chunk missing from it and one of its eyeballs was hanging out of its rotting eye socket. Cupping my mouth and nose to prevent any more of that putrid stench from entering, I ran in the opposite direction. Then, I thought of something that made me stop dead in my tracks… the carcass… is right smack in the middle of the direction I came from. But I was dead certain, I didn’t see or smell anything on the way here.

Once again curiosity has me in its grasps. I covered my mouth and nose and slowly walked back to the deer carcass. Squatting down, I took a closer look. “Good god…” I thought to myself, it was still alive. The animal was still moving, the eye that was still in its socket darted back and forth before settling on me. Staring into that animal’s eye, I could see pain, it was in a lot of pain. Well of course it would be, look at it. It’s better off dead. Then the animal opened its mouth and let out a soft whimper. This was the animal that I had heard previously…

Digging through my pockets, I took out the swiss army knife and flipped out a blade. As much as it pained me, I had to put this creature out of its misery and suffering. Looking around at the animal I spotted its heart through one of the holes in its chest. As gruesome as it was, it would have been the quickest and most painless way to help it end its misery. Holding my breath, I reached both arms into its chest. Knife in one hand, heart in the other…I started cutting. I made the mistake of looking into its good eye, the panic and pained look in its eye is one that will forever haunt my nightmares.

Finally, after what felt like forever, I finished cutting. The animal’s eye closed and its head fell limp on the ground. I dropped the heart in its chest, removing my arm I placed it on its head. After I wiped my knife on the mossy ground, I put it back in my pocket. “what a traumatic experience…” I thought to myself. But suddenly I heard the same miserable bellows. Turning around, I saw something that made my jaw drop.

The deer had not only survived, it stood up. Wedging the hoof-less leg into the soft soil, it staggered on its feet, with blood pouring out of the holes in its chest. It shook its body a bit and the freshly cut heart fell out of its body. “What the f**k…” I said aloud. The animal looked at me with its good eye and let out a cry of agony before collapsing back to the ground. At that moment, it had gotten too weird for me. I ran back to the camp and quickly took a shower, trying to digest what I had just seen.

The sun was still down, I snuck back into my cabin and laid down. “What the f**k…what the f**k…” I repeated to myself. “It couldn’t have been real, I must have been hallucinating, how the f**k was it possible that that deer is still alive. Even before I cut its heart out, the state it was in was horrific. What could have done that to a deer. More importantly, why the hell is it still alive? The look in its eye… the pain and agony it was in was unimaginable. Had I known that it couldn’t die, I wouldn’t have put it through even more pain. What have I done…”

Throughout the next day, all I could think about was the poor deer. I tried to forget about it but the look of agony in its eye tormented me throughout the day. So, when night fell, I set out to look for it again. I don’t know why I did that, but I couldn’t just leave it alone like that. “There must be something I can do to help” I thought to myself. Following the trail of dried blood, I attempted to track it down. As I neared the creature, the familiar scent of rotting flesh filled the air. This time it smelled worse.

I found the creature next to a stream in the forest. Its injuries seemed to have worsened from the previous night. Blood was still pouring profusely from the crater like holes in its chest. The creature was standing, but barely. It lowered its head towards the water and opened its mouth. From the bush I was hiding in, it seemed like it was trying to drink the water, but I could see clearly that it couldn’t. the gaping hole in its neck leaked water and blood. After five minutes of trying, the deer collapsed to the ground again. Only this time, its ribs broke with a deafening crack the moment it hit the ground. The animal winced and cried out in pain.

Just then, a sharp shriek pierced through the silence of the night. Looking around, I spotted a wolverine, making a beeline towards the deer.  Terror gripped my heart as i knew what was going to happen. The vicious creature snarled and lunged onto the deer, crawling into one of the holes in its chest. The deer let out a shriek in pain. That was when i couldn't just stand by and watch anymore. Grabbing a nearby tree branch i ran towards the two animals. The deer’s eye darted back and forth rapidly in pain and fear. Just as the wolverine climbed out of the body, i gave it a big smack. Sending it flying into the stream.

I knelt beside the deer and laid my hand on its side where a small patch of uninjured skin and fur was left. At first the animal struggled to get up desperately, clearly frightened by my presence after what happened last night. I patted the animal and whispered, “its ok its ok, in not here to hurt you, I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”. Almost as if it understood my words. The animal calmed down and laid down quietly.

Now that I was beside the animal, I managed to get a better look at the state of its injuries. It was even worse than I had imagined. But what was still baffling me is how the animal is still alive despite its wounds. Peering into the cavity on its body, I could see where I had cut its heart out the previous night. The vein was still leaking blood profusely. And it was clear that she was not getting enough blood to its lower limbs. The muscles in the lower part of her body that were still uninjured were starting to waste away due to the shortage of blood. Tears started dripping from my face… I felt horrible. Not only did I not help this animal I managed to make its situation worse than it already is.

Then it struck me, If the animal can’t die, then why don’t I try to salvage what’s left of his body and try to patch it up. That became my mission. I had to help this animal, nothing deserved such a fate. Patting its side once more I whispered, “don’t worry, I’ll help you, I’ll help you recover ok?” the deer let out a loud breath of air almost like it agreed with mat I said. I smiled and said “what do you think of the name…Deina”.

Author's Note

Do let me know what you think of the story structure, flow etc
any constructive criticism is welcomed :)
thank you for taking your time to read this little project of mine